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Naruto: The Art of Deception 06
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 08:19:35 +0000 UTCChapter 06: Lesson Three
The forest was drenched. The remnants of Kakashi’s water release jutsu clung to the air, mist curling between the trees, soaking into the bark. Droplets dripped from the canopy, tapping against the damp earth, the scent of wet moss and churned-up soil thick in the air.
Naruto and Sakura landed hard, boots sinking slightly into the softened ground. Naruto didn’t move for a second, then he shifted, dropping to one knee. His right hand hovered near his left shoulder, fingers brushing the deep cut where Kakashi’s kunai had torn through flesh. Blood seeped through his fingers, dripping onto the damp earth.
Sakura was on him immediately.
“Let me see.” She was already reaching for his arm.
“I’m fine,”
She ignored him, gripping his wrist and pulling his hand away from the wound.
Sakura pressed her palm against the injury, chakra already surging to her fingertips. The green glow of medical ninjutsu flared to life, illuminating the wound as she worked.
The pain dulled, the stiffness fading. Naruto flexed his fingers once, testing the motion.
“Sakura,” he said. “The bell test. Back then.”
She glanced at him, still focused on closing the wound. “What about it?”
“After Taijutsu. Then Ninjutsu. What came next?”
She frowned slightly, thinking. It had been years, but the sequence was burned into her memory. Taijutsu first. Then Ninjutsu. And then..
“…Genjutsu.”
Naruto’s lips curled slightly.
“Kakashi’s in trouble.”
Sakura paused, searching his face. “What do you mean?”
Naruto just stood up, rolling his shoulder. “You’ll see.”
They moved forward through the trees, senses stretched outward.
It wasn’t just quiet, it was a suffocating void, an unnatural absence that pressed against her eardrums like she had been submerged underwater. At first, she hadn’t noticed. The shift had been slow, creeping in as they moved, the usual sounds of the world fading one by one birds, insects, the rustle of leaves until there was nothing left but the sound of her own breath, too loud in the stillness.
It was wrong.
She looked at Naruto.
He hadn’t said anything, hadn’t reacted to the way the world had gone disturbingly mute. She glanced at his face and saw his eyes.
They were scanning.
His eyes flicked over the trees, over the mist curling through the branches, over the damp earth beneath their feet. Studying every detail, calculating something in real time, dissecting the very air around them.
Then he looked at her.
And for a moment, she felt her stomach drop.
Because there was nothing there.
No warmth, no curiosity, no emotion. Just depthless, endless cold void-black and absolute. He looked like veteran ninja completely in a zone.
She inhaled sharply. Naruto smiled.
It was small, subtle, barely there. And then his hand came down on her shoulder.
A pulse. Like an aftershock, chakra rippled through the air, bursting outward from his palm.
Sound.
It crashed back all at once, a deafening flood of rustling leaves, distant birds, the wind pushing through the branches.
Naruto’s voice was soft and warm unlike his eyes.
“I’m here with you, Sakura. Don’t worry.”
His hand left her shoulder.
“Kakashi is playing mind games with us.”
They moved jumping from branch to branch for a while. Then they came from nowhere, slicing through the mist, cutting through the air at impossible angles,three of them, aimed to kill.
Naruto moved before he thought.
His body twisted mid-air, instincts kicking in, kunai already in his grip, arm snapping out with precise, practiced speed. Metal met metal in a shower of sparks as he deflected the kunais, sending them spinning off-course but when he regained his composure Kakashi was already there.
Directly in front of Naruto, standing on air, feet planted on nothing, as if reality itself had folded to let him pass through. His posture was relaxed, one hand in his pocket, head tilted slightly.
He lifted his free hand, fingers loose.
Naruto’s stomach tightened.
“Lesson Three—Genjutsu.”
His Sharingan spun.
The instant their eyes met, the world shifted.
The trees stretched impossibly, twisting into endless spirals, the sky darkened to a deep, suffocating gray, and the mist coiled unnaturally around them, thick as a living thing.
It was fast. Seamless. Flawless.
Kakashi had executed thousands of Genjutsu in his lifetime, this one was perfect.
And yet something was wrong.
Naruto didn’t react.
His breathing remained even, his shoulders loose, his heartbeat slow.
And then the Genjutsu cracked.
It broke apart violently, like something had torn through it from the inside.
A sound vibrated through the air deep, guttural, ancient.
The mist around them trembled. The sky split open.
Kakashi barely had time to process it before his vision collapsed inward.
A sudden, stomach-churning pull like his mind was being yanked from his body. The world around him twisted, the Genjutsu unraveling too fast, too violently.
He was falling.
Kakashi’s body hit the ground with a dull thud.
Shizune stiffened. “What happened?!”
Tsunade brows furrowed slightly.
“That chakra outburst a moment ago…” She exhaled slowly, arms folding across her chest. “It felt like the Kyuubi.”
Shizune swallowed. “Yeah… I felt it too.”
The first thing he noticed was the thick, humid air. The ground beneath his feet was solid, but cold, damp. Massive walls stretched into blackness, cracked through with glowing veins of red. They pulsed like a heartbeat.
Then chains rattled.
Metal scraping against metal, somewhere distant but close enough to feel.
Kakashi tensed. His fingers twitched, instincts on high alert. This wasn’t the forest. This wasn’t Genjutsu.
And then he saw Naruto. A few feet ahead, standing still, watching. His expression unreadable. Kakashi stared back. Something was off.
Where the hell was he?
“This… isn’t mine,”
Naruto didn’t react at first. Just kept watching.
“I know,” he said finally “It’s not mine either.”
Kakashi’s jaw tightened slightly. “Then what is it?”
“My subconscious.”
The chains rattled again. Louder. Closer.
Kakashi’s stomach twisted.
Naruto tilted his head slightly, his tone even.
“My friend doesn’t like intruders.”
A deep inhale filled the space. The walls pulsed. The air thickened.
“He reacts violently to any Genjutsu.”
Kakashi barely had time to process that before Naruto lifted his hand. Something metallic flashed between his fingers.
The bells.
“You lost, Sensei.”
Naruto’s grip shifted and then he was gone.
The moment he disappeared, the entire space shuddered.
Kakashi felt it before he understood it. A crushing, suffocating force swallowing him whole. The chains in the distance pulled taut, the air roared with pressure.
Darkness.
He woke up hard, gasping.
The sky was still gray, the trees still wet from Kakashi’s own Suiton jutsu. The forest was exactly as it had been.
Except now Naruto and Sakura were standing over him.
Both grinning.
Both holding the bells.
Kakashi pushed himself to his feet, rolling his shoulder once before exhaling.
“What was that?”
Naruto spun one of the bells between his fingers, not answering right away. Then he gave a small shrug.
“Maybe one day I’ll tell you.”
Kakashi let out a quiet chuckle, shaking his head.
He nodded. “Alright, then. You won.”
Before anyone could say anything else, Tsunade and Shizune appeared beside them.
They weren’t shocked, but they didn’t look pleased either. Tsunade’s eyes moved between them before settling on Sakura, arms crossed.
“You were useless.”
Sakura’s face went red instantly. “I..” She cut herself off, jaw clenching. She knew better than to argue.
Tsunade just sighed before turning to Naruto. She looked at him for a long moment, something unreadable in her expression.
“I didn’t expect you to be this… different.”
Naruto met her eyes, saying nothing.
Tsunade studied him a second longer, then exhaled. “I’m not even sure we can put you in a team after this.”
Naruto tilted his head slightly, but his voice was even.
“I kind of work best alone.”
A little bit shorter chapter, but i wanted to give you something today. I am trying to estabilish some schedule of posting. Will try to write around 1,5k words everyday and post it to keep you engaged.
Comments
Kaido
Anbu Naruto? Or is he gonna be a solo jounin? Like anko
